


What if

by orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:22:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29019645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Thank you for this so much! I know you had to wait on this reply, but I hope it’s detailed enough.Firstly, I see the interaction with Aqua going quite differently. Aquamarine and Kevin are both short tempered, hot headed, and don’t like their time being wasted. She would find him on his way to Jamie’s apartment, asking him, just as she did with Jamie, if he was her dad.
Relationships: Jamie/Kevin (Steven Universe)





	What if

ANON!!!

Thank you for this so much! I know you had to wait on [this](https://invadernav.tumblr.com/post/171139067793/what-if-kevin-got-abducted-instead-of-jamie) reply, but I hope it’s detailed enough.

Firstly, I see the interaction with Aqua going quite differently. Aquamarine and Kevin are both short tempered, hot headed, and don’t like their time being wasted. She would find him on his way to Jamie’s apartment, asking him, just as she did with Jamie, if he was her dad.

Kevin would ignore her at first - he has better things to do than to be annoyed by some twerp Gem. Jamie texted him that he was done with work, and Kevin isn’t the type to keep someone waiting.

‘Kevin never made it to Jamie’s apartment.’

When Aquamarine demands that he answer her, Kevin snaps at the little Gem, telling her to bug someone else because he’s busy and on his way to see someone, ‘and Kevin isn’t one to disappoint.’

“So _you’re_ Kevin!”

Kevin is unsurprised she’s heard of him, even though he can’t recall having ever seen her before - who didn’t know who he was? However, when she follows this by calling out, ‘Oh Topaz! We’ve found another one!’, his arrogance is replaced with confusion. Which quickly turns to terror when he sees a giant yellow Gem with humans trapped in its body step out from behind a building.

He’d recall what he’d said earlier - about no one ever being abducted. The reality of what he’s witnessing hasn’t yet set in, but the fear has.

Once the initial shock wore off, _he’d run._

 _He wouldn’t make it far._ Topaz would grab the hood of his jacket, yanking him backwards and tossing him to the ground like a ragdoll, still fused. His head would hit the pavement, and he’d be dazed and in pain, but he wouldn’t stop trying to get away as Topaz loomed over him like a tower.

She’d reach down and grab the collar of his outer jacket once again - it would be a struggle, but he’d slip out of it, abandoning it to run away, too fast for Topaz to catch up to him still fused.

So Aquamarine freezes him with her wand.

[Originally posted by kirbycheatfurbymeat](https://tmblr.co/Zc4xMq2LKDpmx)

“Really, Topaz, must I do all the hard work? It’s just a dull human.”

After bringing Kevin back to them, Topaz would unfuse, having to act fast or run the risk of a human spotting them. Not that they’d be any trouble, they’d just be a nuisance, and they had a job to complete.

The moment Kevin is unfrozen, he begins shouting, cursing, doing _anything_ he can to make noise, but Topaz would easily silence him by covering his mouth, and when he’s trapped in the fusion, he’s unable to speak.

“That’s another one down!” Aquamarine would proclaim triumphantly. “What’s the next human variant? ‘ _ **A mailman.**_ ’ Shouldn’t be too hard for us to locate.”

–

Jamie would be getting nervous. It’s unlike Kevin not to text him back, and he was always on time. He’d finished his work early, so where was he? He’s too nervous to even change out of his uniform. 

Hours pass with no word from Kevin, and no sign of him. Jamie is a nervous wreck. He asks Barbara if she’d seen Kevin that morning while delivering to his house, and she had. And she could have swore she saw him heading over to Jamie’s…

Jamie jumps to conclusions easily. He gets nervous, and afraid, and his mind fabricates catastrophes. Had something happened on the way over to his house? Why wouldn’t he call him back? The only option is to go looking for him and hope it was all a misunderstanding.

But any hopes of not letting his worries get the best of him are shattered when he finds Kevin’s jacket. And he breaks down.

Suddenly it’s no coincidence that he’s mysteriously gone silent, and that there’s been no sign of him. Not when people have been vanishing off the boardwalk.

He’s the only one looking for Kevin - no one else has noticed he’s even gone missing. No one else seems to care like Jamie does. As far as everyone else is concerned, he probably just left town again like he usually does. But Jamie knows better, as painful a truth that is to face.

Jamie is with the town when they witness the fight between the Crystal Gems and the Homeworld Gems, calling out to Kevin when he sees him. The look on his face - horror, shock and fear - hits Kevin hard.

Kevin would be livid to hear the list came from Steven - ‘a ‘My Dad’, a ‘Connie’, a ‘Lars’, a ‘Sadie’, a ‘Mailman’, an ‘Onion I think’ and a ‘that jerk Kevin’.’

As soon as the realization of that being who Steven is, that this was his fault, and that he is to blame, Kevin would angrily shout, ‘YOU!’

Before he can say much more, Topaz covers his mouth again - something she has been doing frequently since Kevin and Aquamarine have gotten into a fair number of arguments since his mouth had become free, and he isn’t opposed to calling them both some rather rude names.

Aquamarine follows up her list by stating she will leave them alone if Steven tells her where they can find ‘the Mailman’ and ‘My Dad’.

When Steven refuses to sell out his friend, Aquamarine has this to say;

“Fine. If you don’t care about your ‘friends’, then I guess we can just start killing them. The mission didn’t specify ‘ ** _alive_** ’, after all. Maybe we’ll start with the loud human?”

The hand over Kevin’s mouth moves to his throat, and he goes silent.

Without hesitation, Jamie steps forward.

“I’m the mailman!”

There’s no hesitation in his voice, no fear - he just needed to keep Kevin safe, even at the cost of his own well being. 

Everyone around him would try and keep Jamie quiet - Barbara and Vidalia, with Steven asking in an incredulous voice what he was doing. Steven had been fully prepared to offer himself up, trying to convince Aquamarine that he was both people she was looking for. He didn’t like Kevin, but he couldn’t let him get hurt.

Before anyone can intervene, Aquamarine freezes the crowd, all the while making sure Topaz’s hand remains squeezed around Kevin’s throat, ensuring the Gems won’t intervene. Kevin can barely speak, but he still tries to beg Jamie to run; Jamie won’t.

Jamie offers a weak smile to Kevin before he’s forced into the fusion as well, and before anyone else can be hurt, Steven proclaims he’s ‘My Dad’.

–

Jamie is scared of heights.

In the episode _‘I Am My Mom’_ , he isn’t looking to Steven when the ship door opens, he isn’t looking to the Homeworld Gems who still want to abduct them - he’s looking down, at the water. He’s the only one who looks afraid - _because he’s scared of heights_. When Steven says they need to jump, he goes from vaguely uneasy to downright panicked. 

Kevin doesn’t know, and when he urges Jamie to jump, he admits his fear.

Topaz is approaching, and Aquamarine finally seems to be realizing what’s going on behind her back. Kevin tries to calm him down, but Jamie stammers that he seems to be ‘paralyzed with fear.’

Steven tries to intervene, being determined to get Jamie off of the ship one way or another, even if he has to throw him. The moment he reaches for Jamie, however, Kevin is stepping in between them and warning Steven to back off. He could get Jamie off the ship, he just needed to be firm.

Kevin would have to remind him of the harsh alternative - 

This finally seems to snap Jamie out of his fear, though he’s still petrified as they near the edge. 

“Just take my hand and close your eyes.” Kevin says. “On three.”

There’s that moment of utter hopelessness when Aquamarine freezes everyone again - so close, they were so close to getting away. But then they hit the frigid water while Steven offers his life in the place of others, and Kevin makes sure to pull Jamie to the surface.

Kevin struggles to walk to shore - having been trapped in Topaz for so long, he’d feel uneasy on his legs, especially with the leftover adrenaline still coursing through him. When he stumbles, Jamie is there to help him back up.

They’d collapse once the reached the shore, Jamie on his hands and knees and Kevin on his back. When Kevin won’t open his eyes, Jamie asks if he’s alright, and he’s pulled into a kiss from Kevin, just like before - there’s just some feelings too intense to be communicated with words right now.

–

Kevin is so much worse at handling a bad experience than Jamie. He ignores the problem, he claims he’s fine when he’s not. He tries to repress the negative, rather than face it, like with Sabina and his feelings on relationships, and becomes short with everyone as a result. He has enough bad memories he’s dealing with, he doesn’t need this too. He doesn’t want to accept what happened, he wants to forget and move on.

But that’s not how you heal.

Jamie would want him to open up, to talk to him, let him in. They can discuss this together.

He’d tell him that it’s okay to be scared, because he was scared too.

And Kevin doesn’t take well to that.

  


He snaps at him, lashing out, almost like a reflex. For that split moment, he forgets that they experienced this trauma together. And he regrets it immediately.

It’s not fair to take his anger out on Jamie of all people, and Kevin knows that. He didn’t mean to lose his temper. But his outburst doesn’t even faze Jamie. He doesn’t flinch, or look hurt. There’s nothing but understanding and sympathy in his eyes. And he gives Kevin something they both desperately need.

Jamie tells him to just breathe, and reminds him he’s not alone.

It all hits Kevin at once - not just what happened, but what Jamie had done as well. That he was willing to let himself be taken just to protect him. He falls to pieces in Jamie’s embrace, letting himself be vulnerable with someone for the first time in seemingly forever. And he realizes just how easy it is to be like that with Jamie.

–

The next day, Kevin would be far too outwardly eager to leave. He couldn’t stand being inside all day where his thoughts could drift. He’s gotten good at blocking bad memories thanks to his experience with Sabina, but even he would struggle with this. It’s just too much for him right now, and Jamie agrees - they both need to get out, even if it’s hard.

Dewey’s speech strikes a cord with them both on a completely new level.

[Originally posted by doafhat](https://tmblr.co/Zojv_u2Rrhdg1)

When Kevin confronts Dewey about getting Jamie’s name wrong, he tells him how he couldn’t even be bothered to get off his ass to look for either of them, so why should they ever vote for him.

Dewey’s next words strike Kevin like ice.

“Wait, who are you? Did you get taken too?”

Kevin wants people to remember who he is, he wants people to know his name. To hear their own mayor - his neighbor - didn’t even realize he was one of the abducted humans, breaks his usually untouchable confidence.

The way Kevin blinks in shock, how he falters with his response, and looks so completely caught off guard by the mayor’s question, breaks Jamie’s heart, and before Kevin has the chance to lose his mind, Jamie steps in.

Not to stop Kevin, but to tell Dewey off himself.

He asks how Dewey can dare to stand there and say he cared about the town when he wasn’t even aware of who was taken and who wasn’t, and who was still missing. He thought Dewey cared about them at one time, but it’s clear he was wrong - he only cared about being mayor in title alone, and not what that position entails. Only concerned with making himself look good while the rest of them were breaking.

This time around, Steven doesn’t even try to intervene. He can’t bring himself to defend what Dewey just said, and he’s never seen Jamie this angry before - so upset and hurt that he was crying. It’s worse than when Garnet broke his heart.

Everything is spilling out of Jamie and he can’t filter himself - he says he was terrified of losing Kevin, and was worried sick about him all day, wondering what had happened and where he was, if he was safe, or hurt, or afraid. Meanwhile Dewey didn’t even know he’d been taken in the first place.

Steven sees how those words sink into Kevin - Jamie meant every word of what he said. He had been willing to sacrifice himself just to make sure Kevin stayed safe.

And it hits Kevin so suddenly, about what that means. How Jamie must feel about him.

And about how he feels towards Jamie.

Kevin would spend the night at Jamie’s for the following week - Jamie insists he stay. Kevin’s parents not noticing he’d been taken makes it too difficult to go home so soon. 

Jamie has fully accepted his feelings for Kevin - there’s no point in denying what’s so obvious. He’d offered himself to Topaz without a second thought to keep Kevin safe. He’s not surprised, and making this official is on his mind.

But it’s nonstop on Kevin’s mind as well.

Because he can’t think of anyone who’s so clearly cared about him like Jamie did, and it’s almost scary. And he wants to bring up the idea of being a couple, but it’s hard, especially with the trauma they’ve both faced. They’re healing together, but he’s still hesitating. 

He needs an excuse to bring it up, somewhere where they could be relaxed.

Like a party. And Kevin throws the best parties, after all.

When he asks Steven to go this time, he reminds him of how it was because of him that he was taken, and he owed him this. It’s a begrudging agreement.

But it all goes to shit, just like before. And Kevin is ready to forget all about telling Jamie about how he feels or coming clean - you’d think with the hell he’s just faced, this would seem so much easier.

But then Jamie gets there, and he’s so understanding, so careful with him, not judging him for anything. Just like when Kevin had broken down in front of him. Just like how he’d been these past two weeks. And it’s so easy to see that there’s nothing to fear.

He watches Jamie stammer and stutter, trying to explain his own feelings. Feelings Kevin was already aware of, and he can’t help but smile. No fear of a broken heart could compare to how he felt for him. How he felt when Jamie offered himself up to Topaz and Aquamarine, or when they’d jumped together, or when he’d defended him against Dewey.

There’s no reason to be afraid, and no reason to hold back.

So it’s Kevin who asks that they be boyfriends this time.

And that’s how I think things would have gone if Kevin was abducted instead of Jamie.


End file.
